DeLancie is a real trooper at conventions too. I saw him years ago at a Chicago con held during a bad snowstorm where only 300 people showed up. He was half sick but made his con appearance. He is said to be a big hit on the Star Trek cruises too.

Mrs. Picard, are you going to the Vegas con?

Edited June 16, 2010 by trekz

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DeLancie is a real trooper at conventions too. I saw him years ago at a Chicago con held during a bad snowstorm where only 300 people showed up. He was half sick but made his con appearance. He is said to be a big hit on the Star Trek cruises too.

Mrs. Picard, are you going to the Vegas con?

LOL if I win the lottery. At this point I couldn't even afford a taxi to the nearest airport, much less a flight ticket to the US or the hopelessly expensive Vegas ticket stuff. :) (I'm not a big fan of conventions, though, it's fine that I can't go. I prefer meeting him at the stage door after a play, actually. He's a lot less stressed then.)

News!

Sir Patrick is in Edinburgh right now, attending a movie premiere. Here is a red carpet picture!

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Click here in order to have a look at pictures of Sir Patrick from yesterday's Q&A session at the Edinburgh Film Festival!

Oh and there's a rather interesting article as well:

Sir Patrick Stewart, the actor and special guest at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, was visibly moved last night as he spoke of the effect he has had on the fans of his most famous role, the Star Trek captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Speaking at a sold-out Bafta Scotland interview at the festival, the acclaimed stage and screen actor had tears in his eyes as he told of his “favourite ever letter”, which he received from an American police officer.

Stewart, who played the character on television from 1987 until 1994, said the officer told him that the only thing that helped him deal with the feeling that evil had triumphed in the world was to reach for a Star Trek video and admire the moral, upstanding character the actor played.

He was unable to continue the anecdote, as he became too upset. The 69-year-old, who was questioned on stage by Alan Morrison, arts editor of the Sunday Herald, also said: “After a while on Star Trek, it became a question of where Jean-Luc ended and I began.

“Eventually I began to realise, and it never occurred to me before, that if there is not a significant part of you in the character you are going to play, then it won’t be too interesting.”

He added: “There was a point where it became an albatross: a producer who I was lobbying for a part once said to me – why would I want Jean-Luc Picard in my film?

“So I resisted playing another role like that, Professor X in the X-Men series, for a long time. But another actor said to me: you can never have enough franchises in your career.”

Stewart, chairman of the festival’s Michael Powell Jury, which selects the best new British feature film, said he initially took the Star Trek role because he did not expect the series to last very long, and friends had told him to “go to LA, get a tan, and some cash in your pocket for a change.”

Stewart said of being at the festival: “I have had one of the best weeks of my life: being in Edinburgh, in this city, with this fabulous weather, watching film after film for the jury, it has been a delight.”

Asked by an audience member if there were any roles he regretted taking, Stewart said one film did not appear on his own CV: Wild Geese 2, in which he played a Russian army officer.

“Hold your nose, for the smell of bad acting by me in that film,” he said. He said he took the role because it paid £2000, exactly the sum it cost to fix his leaky roof at the time.

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Indeed. He is very critical towards himself... in this case, too critical IMO. He did fine. The Russian officer didn't even have a name, after all. He wasn't an important character or something. But then, that's Sir Patrick - expecting perfection from himself even when it comes to tiny roles... ^^

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Thanks for the heads up on the Chicago Comic Con, another place to spend money lol! Also appearing: Linda Blair, Adam West and the last 4 Cylon actors from Battlestar Galactica.

Does Patrick come to the US a lot? Is he perhaps staying a bit in August, since he is in Vegas in early August for the Star Trek con there? Or does he jet back and forth?

He will be traveling to China next during July (University of Huddersfield business) and then he'll head back to the US at the end of July/beginning of August for a few conventions and all. He'll do a play on Broadway in NYC, rehearsals start on August 23rd (which is why he appears Friday & Saturday at Comic Con and not his usual Saturday & Sunday). He expects to be in the US for pretty much quite some time during summer/fall.

And yes, he comes to the US a lot... partly for personal reasons and partly because he has to record American Dad episodes and sometimes other voicework. :)

I wish he would show up at Shore Leave just once!

Depends on when it is. If he can make it and if he gets an invitation, he might show up. :)